[fitsbits] 64-bit integer comments

[Don Wells]

William Pence wrote:

> ..While it is probably true that many existing software packages read 
> integer keywords into a 32-bit ints by default, this will gradually 
> change as 64-bit hardware and software becomes more common and perhaps 
> as programmers become more aware of the need to support larger values..


High-precision integers are not new for FITS: the first FITS reader, 
coded in Fortran by Jan Schwitters (KPNO/NOAO) in June 1979, executed on 
a CDC6400, and therefore it stored and manipulated integer keyword 
values as 60-bit integers.  :-)

-Don
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